AMP Corporation located Harrisburg, Pa. has developed an encapsulation device for retaining a plurality of bare semiconductor die. A cross sectional view of a simplified AMP encapsulation device is shown in FIG. 1. The AMP encapsulation device is typically molded plastic and has a chamber portion comprised of a plurality of die chambers 5 and is enclosed with a cap after the insertion of the die into the chambers 5. Each chamber has at least one beveled edge 10. A bare die is inserted by hand into a chamber 5 with the circuit side touching the beveled edge 10. The beveled edge 10 thus serves as a guide for the insertion of the bare die. However, since the circuit slides across the bevel the circuitry may be damaged during insertion. The bare die is inserted into a spring retaining and contact assembly 15. The retaining and contact assembly 15 holds the bare die in position in the encapsulation device. A spring portion 20 electrically contacts the bare die and a rigid foot portion 25 is provided for contacting a circuit board onto which the encapsulation device is mounted. Due to the rigidity of the foot portion 25 and inherent bowing of many circuit boards the failure rate of electrical contact between the bare die and the board is typically high. At times the failure runs as high as 80%. In addition to these problems solid caps secured over the chamber portion of the encapsulation device do not retain the die in the correct position and often are a cause of die damage subsequent to encapsulation of the die.
Thus a need exists for an encapsulation device for bare die which provides reliable electrical contact between the die and a mounting board and a need exists for a method for safely inserting the bare die into the encapsulation device. In addition there is a need to provide position retainment of the bare die within the encapsulation device without fear of die damage following encapsulation.